


Despite It All, It's You I Turn To

by EmpW



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Lots of reminiscing, Lots of tenderness, Other, mention of brainwashing briefly, they are looking..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28983528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpW/pseuds/EmpW
Summary: Requested by @eros--arrows on Tumblr.Dark Choco cookie, slowly recovering after breaking free from the sword's curse, contemplates his life and relationships from a time long left behind.
Relationships: Dark Choco Cookie - Relationship, Dark Choco Cookie x OC, Dark Choco x
Kudos: 3





	Despite It All, It's You I Turn To

The rain ricocheted off of the sturdy tent’s canvas, filling the inside with a low drumming sound that comforted the cookie recovering within. 

Sleep, one unperturbed by nightmares and memories, was once thought no longer attainable by the former Prince of the Dark Cacao kingdom. He had spent so long fighting Dark Enchantress’s influence that even after the curse had been broken, night rarely gave him the solace he so desperately needed after years of turmoil. As he recovered, bits and pieces of a time before the Sword’s persuasion and power were uncovering themselves little by little. Reminiscing made him melancholy, each memory that could be cherished was tainted with the bitter remnants of a life he could no longer look forward too. 

But tonight, for what felt like the first night in months, he slept without interruption. 

Despite everything that had happened, Dark Choco Cookie was here. Safe, physically intact, and agonizingly inching his way through his recovery. 

That same stormy night, Blueberry Cookie found herself pacing through the soaked through leaves that blanketed the forest’s ground. Her mind was a whirr with thoughts and worries that felt omnipresent in all that she did, and although today had brought good news, she refused to give herself the luxury of letting her guard down. 

Though the guild’s quest to find Dark Choco had been successful, there was a quiet understanding amongst those in the guild who knew the true extent of Dark Enchantresses reach. Their fight was far from over, but right now their priority was to help Dark Choco in anyway they could. 

This, of course, had always been Blueberry’s prerogative. She remembered the long and heated discussion amongst her colleagues about their next steps. Some left, having gotten the closure they had been searching for when they had joined their team. Others felt that Dark Enchantress had to be sought out and taken down immediately, that idling meant only more lives lost. But their leader, Milk cookie, was adamant that they wait for the fallen prince’s full physical recovery before they dared approach the Dark Enchantress’s lair. An outcome that Blueberry had argued for fervently. 

She quietly padded her way toward the tent farthest into their camp, and gingerly pulled back the fabric that enclosed the warm shelter. Inside was a stash of medical supplies, a rustic unlit lantern, and Dark Choco, swathed in a single woven blanket. When her eyes fell upon the silhouette of his slumbering form, she gasped softly. Dark Choco’s gentle breathing was barely audible above the rain, but the rare expression of tranquility that softened his sleeping face brought a tender smile to Blue’s lips. 

In the dark of the quiet tent, with Dark Choco Cookie’s features seemingly scrubbed of all tension and worry, Blueberry thought he looked just as he did when they were betrothed, the way he looked when she would lie beside him in his royal chambers, pushing strands of his silky hair back into place with quiet admiration.

Had it not been for his scar, she might’ve mistook this moment for a memory of her golden years with the former hero. She touched her matching one gently, feeling a brief twitch of sorrow as she did so. 

Silently, she turned to leave. Blueberry froze when she heard Dark Choco stirring within his blankets, holding her breath. He opened one sleepy eye, and as the blur dissipated, Dark Choco spoke quietly. 

“Blue?” He asked, voice scarcely above a whisper.

“Sorry to disturb your sleep…” She said curtly.

She took another step forward, crossing the threshold between tent and camp. Her cheeks burned lightly as she silently scolded herself for lingering too long and waking up Dark Choco as a result. Hopefully he would fall back asleep after she was out of his line of sight. 

Dark Choco woke up to the sound of birds serenading one another high above the trees. The sunlight speckling through leaves illuminated his small sleeping quarters, and lethargically he reached out for his companions touch, but found nothing. Blinking his eyes open, Dark Choco was thrusted back into the current time, a time where he slept alone. 

In his sleep he had dreamt he and Blueberry cookie were together, as if nothing had happened from the time between him leaving on his quest to find the sword, to his time here, with the guild. He remembered how she would stand sentry at his door every night, fighting her way against her own fatigue. Dark Choco would wake himself up in the wee hours of the morning to coax her into bed, and more often than not it would be his own. The tender moments between her falling asleep beside him and him closing his own eyes were small, but cherished now in his sporadic memory. 

Of everything he had lost, every colleague and landmark, every routine thrown to the wind, the one element of his life that stood steadfast was the loyalty of his former Royal Retainer. His betrothed, his sunlight. 

The flap of the tent opened, ushering in Milk Cookie. He was there to do a morning check-up of the former prince, a custom that had been created the moment Dark Choco could sit upright and speak again. After exchanging one sided pleasantries, the healer began to busy himself with examining Dark Choco’s physical state, to which Dark Choco was indifferent toward in a way that Milk took note of. 

“Dark Choco, Sir?” He began, still unsure of how to address his childhood hero despite him being at the camp for several months now. “You seem distracted. Is everything alright?” 

“Is Blueberry awake?” Dark Choco asked, surprising even himself with how quickly he had said it. 

Milk gave the cookie a half smile, gently setting down the pitcher he had been preparing to wash his dressings with. 

“She is. Would you..like to see her?” He suggested, eyes brightening. This was the first time Dark Choco had asked for something aside from more water or extra blankets. 

Dark Choco paused a moment, it was what he wanted more than anything right now, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be okay with seeing him. 

“I’d like to go for a walk.” He stated. His speech had become more limited after breaking from the sword’s curse, he was unused to conversation after so many years of being locked in mental battle with the dark magic that corrupted him. 

“Oh! So you’d like Blueberry to take you for that walk, right?” Milk asked. 

The dark haired cookie gave a slow, single nod in response. Though doing what he could not to show it, he was frustrated at the changes the curse had left on his mind and body. He was appreciative of Milk’s patience with him. Even if he struggled to remember why he doted on him so. 

Milk left for a minute, and Dark Choco watched his shadow disappear through the canvas walls, before reappearing with a second figure whose silhouette he’d recognize anywhere.

He sat up a little straighter, anticipating her entrance and doing what little he could to look...ready. 

On the other side of the tent Blueberry prepared herself in a similar fashion, exhaling slowly as she carefully entered, this time to speak with a fully conscious Dark Choco, a culmination of all the late night visits and times sat quietly against his tent, the habit of protecting him never dying despite the change of setting and circumstance. 

It was as if the sound of the forest quieted itself in reverence.

Dark Choco took in every minutiae of Blueberry’s appearance, his mental image of her shifting to what he saw before him now. Despite catching a glance or two throughout his time recovering, she had been careful not to overwhelm him with their reintroduction, and Dark Choco in turn, never sought her out. 

But now, he was ready. He was ready and here she was. 

Blueberry cookie did what she could to hold back tears, not only had he asked for her, but in his tired eyes she saw recognition. She saw what could very well be love, unwavering, uncontested. 

“Uh...Good Morning…” She said awkwardly. She was bursting with thousands of questions and affirmations, ones that had kept her up at night wondering, wishing, worrying...but now in his presence each one dissolved like sugar in the rain. 

Dark Choco’s intense gaze gave way to the corners of his eyes softening with a smile. He put his effort into standing up, a task easier said than done. 

Blue had to fight the urge to rush to his side and help, knowing the former prince would want to show his progress in healing without being babied. She was proud seeing him stand to full height, head grazing the tallest point of the tent. 

“Good morning, Blueberry.” He replied, voice hoarse but even. The formality of the way he addressed her feeling unnatural yet necessary. 

“You picked the perfect day to walk, did you want to uh, go now?” Blue asked. She fought to keep herself from trembling, how long had she waited? 

Dark Choco locked his eyes with hers, feeling wave upon wave of adoration for her wash over him. 

“Yes...I would like that.” 

Following her out of the tent, unfiltered, unadulterated sunlight and fresh air hit Dark Choco’s face and filled his lungs. He stood there a moment, eyes closed and head tilted upward like a sapling’s leaves, desperate to take it all in, hungry for it. 

She looked up at him, realizing this was his first time being able to leave the tent since he had woken up. Not a word of complaint during that time, but she knew this was part of what he missed most about being free. She gave him all the time he needed to bask. 

On instinct, Dark Choco reached a hand out beside him to hold Blue’s, but slowly retracted it, feeling it inappropriate at the present moment. 

Blue extended her own and took his hand, giving it a squeeze and pulling it gently toward her side. A comforting action that told him no matter what, despite everything, she understood. She understood more than anyone else what he had gone through and what he needed. However small the gesture she needed him to know she still cared, that despite it all he’d be the first person she’d turn to, that she would still put her life on the line for him, and that she still loved him. 

A silent tear slipped down Dark Choco’s cheek, and he squeezed back.   
When the two began to walk, no words were exchanged amongst them, they weren’t needed. All Dark Choco had feared was left behind as him and blue stepped in tandem, silently absorbing all they saw and heard, hand in hand.


End file.
